Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Deathdream (1974, Bob Clark)

Bob Clark gave us A Christmas Story, yet his main body of work lies in the horror movie genre. Deathdream is a really good horror movie that reminds us to be careful what you wish for. It just might come true and make things worse. Much worse. Lynn Carlin is fantastic as Christine, a mother who wishes for her son Andy (Richard Backus in a freaky and creepy performance) to come home from the Vietnam War. He was reportedly killed, and yet one night he shows up, to the amazement of his mother, father (John Marley) and sister (Anya Ormsby) who all thought he was dead.

They choose to ignore the fact that he’s home, although his father starts to notice that Andy is well, different. A lot different! What occurs next is a series of brutal murders and the realization that while Andy is still walking, he’s not exactly human anymore. That’s for sure in what reminds me not only of The Monkey’s Paw (the inspiration for the flick) but also Stephen King tales as well.

I’m not sure if Andy is a zombie or a vampire, yet the scenes where he attacks people to drink their blood are pretty suspenseful and freaky. Clark made a low budget movie that is still well put together anyways, and he focuses on the negative impacts of the Vietnam War upon a local community literally less than a year after the US pulled out of the conflict. I do wish the movie had lingered on those aspects a bit more, yet Deathdream is a really effective drama horror movie that did burrow itself into my brain a little. Viewed thanks to Tubi, and a reminder that the 1970s had some of the best horror the genre had to offer.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: The House of Seven Corpses (1973, Paul Harrison)

I’m not sure if The House of Seven Corpses is a really early example of a meta style horror movie, yet this one doesn’t seem to fully commit to the idea. Maybe it was lack of money, talent or style, yet Paul Harrison’s movie is pretty tame and fails to offer any scares. I did like the zombie aspect, yet the movie only features that way too late for such events to make a sizable impact. I didn’t hate this movie, but I didn’t really like it either, so it rests in that 50-60s out of 100 score that I’ve given forgettable movies that fade away in my brain. If it wasn’t for blogs and movie logging websites I would probably forget I had even watched movies such as this one, and that’s the worst offense a movie can commit: to be pedestrian, lackadaisical. John Carradine stars in this movie, yet even can’t rescue this one, and the movie manages to waste him in a thankless old man role.

I will admit I did like the ending, although the overall conclusion doesn’t really make sense. The opening part of the film is excellent, and it’s all downhill from there, which is rather disappointing. I guess the only reason I’m glad I saw this is that it’s probably another movie that inspired Edgar Wright’s hilarious fake trailer spoof of British and American horror movies, Don’t! That’s about it, and I’m glad I saw this for free on Tubi because if I had paid to view this in theaters I would have been rather annoyed.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Fangs (1974, Art Names)

Fangs aka Snakes, aka Holy Wednesday, aka killer snake movie that begins as a slow burn drama and turns into a horror revenge thriller. One man who loves snakes too much decides to get his revenge on people and goes on a killer spree. This movie is the kind of campy weird drive in fare that in this case isn’t quite weird enough.

The second half works better than the first, mostly because you witness a man driven to the limits of sanity. Are we supposed to identify with this lunatic? Probably not, yet 1970s cinema had many a revenge movie where the hero or heroine wrecks their terrible retribution upon those they feel deserve it.

Les Tremayne is actually quite good here in the title role, however I actually felt there wasn’t enough interesting events happening in this movie to really love it or even like it. I gave it a 7/10 at least since the movie does try to be more than your typical grindhouse movie, still I’ve seen better made 1970s revenge flicks than this one. Perhaps I’m starting to hit the bottom of the barrel for that decade in regards to B-movies.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: The Rats Are Coming! The Werewolves Are Here! (1972, Andy Milligan)

Andy Milligan had an interesting low budget career where he made whatever movies he could, right up until he sadly passed away. I’ve seen one already and just like this one it’s a mix of low budget oddities and a still wonderfully goofy take on horror cinema. I don’t mind either one, yet I can’t fully endorse the two. The title for his 1972 cult movie is a mouthful, that’s for sure, and concerns a werewolf clan hiding out at an old mansion.

The clan’s patriarch is dying, and the family is desperate to find a cure for their lycanthrope curse, which has plagued them for their whole lives. Some parts work, others don’t, and the movie plays out mostly in a soap opera vein. The full moon also shows up to wreck havoc in the finale, and I did greatly enjoy the ending, which has some nice surprises. Check this out anyways despite it being uneven, and I’ll always eagerly watch cult cinema no matter what.

Horrorfest 2022/It’s Hammer Time Presents: Lust for a Vampire (1971, Jimmy Sangster)

Unfortunately Lust for a Vampire is the weakest entry in the Hammer Studios Karnstein series. Yet it still has some good moments, and Michael Johnson is pretty good as the film’s hero, Richard LeStrange. I also liked Yutte Stensgaard as Mircalla. I’m not sure if featuring other Hammer mainstays would have affected the movie’s quality or not, I found this flick to be somewhat too goofy at times for my liking.

What Jimmy Sangster’s movie lacks in style or grace it makes up for with lots of boobs, I suppose. The finale is mostly standard Hammer fare, and it all lacks the more interesting aspects of The Vampire Lovers or Twins of Evil. However I find that even a subpar or lesser Hammer film is worth a view, and their 1970s output isn’t as lackluster as folks wish to believe. Viewed thanks to Tubi, which has some other Hammer movies. Nice.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Abby (1974, William Girdler)

William Girdler made some entertaining 1970s movies, and Abby was definitely one of those. I really liked this movie and am very amused at how it willfully ripped off both The Exorcist and Rosemary’s Baby. It was the 1970s so of course someone decided to make a blaxploitation horror movie centered around demonic possession. Too bad Warner Brothers suppressed this movie in different ways-I watched a subpar print of it via YouTube. Years later The Man is still keeping people down, I guess, and copyright law is wielded decades later to suppress cinema. Lame.

Carol Speed is great in the title role, swerving from being a nice lady to being possessed and out of control. William H. Marshall is the bishop who shows up to perform an exorcism and save her soul, aided by Terry Carter and Austin Stoker. Although certain parts don’t quite work, this is a pretty good movie in it’s own right and has some cool scenes.

I guess I found out what Don’t Be a Menace to South Central While Drinking Your Juice in the Hood was making fun of with the evil demonic girlfriend scene. I wonder if maybe this movie inspired Def By Temptation in some ways, and it probably did. Criterion should snap this up, release it and give Warner the finger by doing so. It would be the righteous thing to do.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Mansion of the Doomed (1976, Michael Pataki)

Mansion of the Doomed is a low budget 1970s take on the much better classic Eyes Without a Face. I tried not to compare the two but Mansion felt a bit too similar. I did like Mansion, however I feel it’s not as good or half as interesting as Eyes is, which is too bad all things considered. Both are easily better than the still wonderfully campy/goofy Atom Age Vampire, which I reviewed years ago on paper. No idea if that review was ever posted or not, I would have to look.

This movie does have a good cast: Richard Basehart as the doctor willing to do evil for his daughter to see again, Gloria Grahame as his willing assistant, Lance Henriksen as one of the victims and Trish Stewart as the doctor’s daughter. The eyeless victims are pretty creepy, however the movie sometimes fails to use them for more, better effect in my opinion. I was hoping for a far scarier movie, still this one is decent/solid enough and has a satisfying conclusion. One you can maybe say you saw coming, ha ha….I’ll show myself out.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: The Wizard of Gore (1970, Herschell Gordon Lewis)

Now this is more like it from Herschell Gordon Lewis, even if The Wizard of Gore doesn’t really have much of an ending now that I think about it. Still Lewis creates one of his more unique and fascinating horror movies, offering up a commentary on the nature of reality while still offering up plenty of horrific and violent murders. The blood of course flows a lot in this movie, and the gore effects straddle the line between disturbing and goofy, which can also describe pretty much every one of his movies that I’ve seen so far. Ray Sager is fantastic as Montag the Magnificent, who is either your garden variety trickster magician, actually gifted, or in fact a man killing people with his magic acts. All of them seem to apply here, as Sherry (Judy Cler) and her boyfriend Jack (Wayne Ratay) discover while they investigate Montag as the bodies pile up. This movie probably has the best acting out of all of his splatter movies, as both Cler and Ratay have good chemistry together and are very likable characters.

Still this movie would not work without Sager, who practically eats the scenery and has an odd menace about him while also managing to appear harmless. That’s a tough line to walk and Sager does it rather well in my opinion. Although not as good as some of his earlier works, The Wizard of Gore is still worth viewing and is even fun in some aspects. I suppose at this point I’m the exact audience for Lewis’ work, and people such as myself are why his cinema lives on years later, for good or for bad. I prefer to think it’s for good.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Meatcleaver Massacre (1977, Evan Lee)

Shudder must not have gotten the version of this movie that at least had Christopher Lee at the beginning, cause I didn’t see that part at all. Not that it matters since Meatcleaver Massacre is an exercise in insomnia, a mostly snooze inducing production that offers nothing new or interesting. If this hadn’t been made in the 1970s people would have forgotten it already and it wouldn’t have even been featured on Shudder or Tubi, which I believe also has this movie. I know that I shouldn’t be that guy but honestly I advise people to skip this flick and watch something way more interesting. Anything at all, really, and besides if you’re in the mood for a decent 1970s flick that are tons of giallos and better slasher movie offerings from the decade out there.

I didn’t care about any of the characters and this movie wastes a decent/solid premise: a college professor calls on this ancient demon to avenge his murdered family. Even the murders aren’t particularly notable, and I’m already forgetting them as I type this. The only decent thing I can recall is some neat dream sequence that feels as if it was ripped off from a much better movie. If you don’t think you can make a movie though, view Meatcleaver Massacre and realize whatever you have planned can’t be any worse than Evan Lee’s turkey. If it didn’t have violence and gore this would easily be featured by now on MST3K and honestly they’re on streaming so they could probably get away with an episode making fun of one of the worst movies from the 1970s.

Horrorfest 2022 Presents: Nadie oyó gritar aka No One Heard the Scream (1973, Eloy de la Iglesia)

No One Heard the Scream is as much a Spanish take on Hitchcock movies as it is a giallo, and it’s a pretty well made giallo that I really liked. Based on what I’ve seen from Eloy de la Iglesia I like him as a director, and the man had his own flavor and style that worked. The plot would make the Master of Suspense grin, as it entails a woman being forced to help her neighbor dispose of a body. Is he a killer or is something else at work? That and she ends up becoming his all too willing accomplice.

Carmen Sevilla is the woman and Vicente Parra who was also in Cannibal Man is the man. They enter into a twisted game of criminal activity, lying, romance and of course, sex. I also like how de la Iglesia makes the viewer guess who the victim was-naturally I’m not telling, watch the movie people! No spoilers!

The ending made me grin and while this is at times a slow burn the film burns brightly and envelops you, making you wonder if the characters will get caught or not. I prefer this one over Cannibal Man and I look forward to viewing more of Elroy de la Iglesias’ films in the near future. Viewed thanks to Shudder which has a nice collection of foreign horror movies.